Splintered
by badly-knitted
Summary: Late one evening, Ryo gets a worrying text from Dee. Set after Vol. 7. Written for fic promptly.


**Title:** Splintered

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Ryo, Dee.

 **Rating:** PG

 **Setting:** After Vol. 7.

 **Summary:** Late one evening, Ryo gets a worrying text from Dee.

 **Word Count:** 907

 **Written For:** My own prompt 'FAKE, Dee/Ryo, (815): Welp. June's off to a great start. I just ripped my pants, completely sober, at 10:30 p.m.,' at fic_promptly.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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Monday night, and Ryo was at a loose end. He didn't even have any housework to do, having done it all earlier in the day. Sometimes his and Dee's days off coincided, and sometimes they didn't, so right now he'd had the day off while Dee had been sleeping earlier in preparation for working a late shift. That kind of sucked, because it meant he probably wouldn't see his lover now until Wednesday at work.

Debating whether to watch TV or try to get an early night when he wasn't really tired, Ryo was startled by his phone buzzing; he had a text from Dee. That was unusual; Dee seldom called when he was working unless something was wrong. Frowning, Ryo opened the message.

There was a frowny face, and the words, 'Welp, June's off to a great start. I just ripped my pants, completely sober, at 10:30 p.m.'

Ryo sent a text back. 'Are you okay?' He waited for a reply, holding his breath without realising.

'Just peachy, aside from the eight inch splinter of wood through my leg. They don't make packing crates like the used to, damn thing shattered when I fell on it. Don't worry. Ambulance is almost here, I can hear the siren.'

'I'll meet you at the hospital. Which one?'

There was no response for a couple of minutes, and after pulling on his jacket, Ryo started to pace back and forth across his floor, impatient and worried despite Dee telling him not to be. At last the phone in his hand buzzed again, and he clicked on the new text.

'Paramedic says Bellevue. Stop worrying, can hear you from here, I'm fine.'

'I'm on my way, see you there.' Ryo sent the text, pocketed his phone, left a note for Bikky, who'd taken Carol to the movies, and headed downstairs to his car.

Traffic was a nuisance and it took him longer than he liked to get across town to the hospital, but when he got there, he found Ted waiting.

"Dee said to tell you he's fine; they hauled his ass off for treatment ten minutes ago, he seemed more concerned about his pants than his leg, bitching about how hard it is to find a pair that fits just right."

"How bad is it?"

"Looked nasty, but the splinter went through the fleshy part, round about here." Ted indicated the outside of his thigh, near the top. "Just needs to be removed, and the wound cleaned and stitched, so it shouldn't take much longer. Now you're here I'd best head back to the precinct and report in. Call me if you need to, but I think Dee will probably be out of action for a couple days, then on deskwork until he heals up."

"Thanks, Ted. Probably see you Wednesday."

"Yeah, at shift change. So long."

After Ted left, Ryo went to talk to one of the nurses on duty, and after a few minutes, was allowed through into the treatment area. The doctor was just stitching up the second of the two holes in Dee's leg.

"Hey," Ryo said.

"Hey yourself. Can't believe I ruined another good pair of jeans; that's the third pair this year!"

"At least it wasn't the black ones," Ryo replied, smiling, relieved to see for himself that Dee really was fine.

"God yes; that would've been a tragedy of epic proportions!" Dee gave a lopsided grin. "So, you convinced yet that I'm fine?"

"Mostly, but I still want to know what happened."

"Ted didn't tell ya?"

"I didn't ask him."

"Well, we were chasin' a suspect down an alley, he jumped on a crate and went over the wall at the end, I was right behind him, jumped on the same crate, my foot slipped and I fell backwards onto another crate, which splintered and part of it went through my leg. By the time Ted caught up, I'd already called for an ambulance. Good thing my phone was in my jacket pocket, otherwise it prob'ly would'a been smashed."

"So then you figured you'd call me and let me know?"

"I know you, Ryo; you'd have been mad at me if I didn't call and ya had to hear about it from someone else."

That was true enough, Ryo thought guiltily.

"Alright, Detective Laytner, you're done." The doctor pulled off her latex gloves and disposed of them. "I'll write out prescriptions for painkillers and a course of antibiotics. Are you up to date with your tetanus shots?"

"Yep, had a booster when I got shot in the ass a few months back."

"Good. Try to stay off that leg as much as possible for the next two or three days, and then light exercise only for another week. I'm loaning you crutches to help you get about, but we will want then back. Come back in ten days to have the stitches removed, sooner if either wound becomes red or inflamed."

"Yeah, I know the procedure. Thanks, doc." Dee slid carefully off the gurney, balancing on his good leg for a moment before accepting the crutches a nurse handed him.

Ryo took the prescriptions. "I'll go ahead and get these filled at the hospital pharmacy, you take your time."

"'Kay, bud." Dee smiled as Ryo left the room, glad he'd called his partner; Ryo made everything better just by showing up. He'd find a way to make this up to him later.

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The End


End file.
